Perception Finally Meets Reality for Robert Griffin III and Washington Redskins

Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins have learned a valuable lesson this week: Bad things happen when reality meets hype.

The hype is that Robert Griffin III can be the franchise quarterback Washington hoped it was getting when it gave up a king's ransom to draft him second overall in 2012.

The reality is the Redskins traded away the farm for a deeply flawed, brittle quarterback they're now stuck with. It's a problem that isn't going away and will continue to weigh down teams and ruin seasons like an albatross.

It took a Quarterback Tiers ranking project from ESPN's Mike Sando to tell Washington fans and decision-makers what they should already know. Griffin is ruined, perhaps beyond repair, but he's a problem that isn't going away.

Now the rest of the league knows it. After three years of hyping the former Offensive Rookie of the Year to the hilt, the NFL fraternity's perception of Griffin now matches the reality.

One unnamed offensive assistant put it as plain as mud to Sando (h/t Chris Wesseling of the league's official site): "There's no coming back. He is done. The reason is, the injury slowed his legs, and his ego will not allow him to hit rock bottom and actually grind his way back up the right way."

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press/Associated Press

If you think that appraisal is a blunt one, then duck for cover before scanning this verbal salvo an anonymous personnel director made to Sando (h/t Wesseling):

"To get better in this league, you have to have a degree of humility. ... When [Griffin] looks in the mirror, he is seeing things that everybody else is not seeing. That is why I was surprised when they gave him the fifth-year [option] and said it was an easy decision."

The perception that Griffin lacks humility or at least accountability is one of his own making. He's created that view by putting blame on his receivers and publicly calling on his supporting cast to give him more help.

Those are problems borne straight from the culture of excuses existing around RG3 and the last two dire seasons. It never, ever seems to be his fault.

First, he needed more weapons. Then he couldn't get along with Mike and Kyle Shanahan, the head coach and offensive coordinator who didn't use him the way he wanted. Now, he's been hung out to dry by Mike Shanahan's successor, Jay Gruden.

Is it any wonder that ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert believes Griffin will only succeed in the NFL if he leaves Washington? He even offered one scenario for the former Heisman Trophy winner to mull over: "What if Griffin played, say, for the Buffalo Bills, coached by ultra-supportive head coach Rex Ryan and offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who helped design the San Francisco 49ers offense that facilitated Colin Kaepernick's transition into a successful starter?"

But let's put the breaks on here for just a moment. There has to be a middle ground between the narrative exposed by Sando, the one that says Griffin is washed up at 25 and Seifert's exit plan.

Middle ground doesn't necessarily mean yet another quarterback change:

Finding such a compromise requires a very honest assessment, one that accepts a few harsh realities.

The first is that Griffin does have very serious issues in his game. They can't be hidden even from the eyes of his biggest supporters.

Naturally, a leader in that crowd is Griffin's former coach at Baylor, Art Briles. In response to Sando's findings, Briles called on the critics of his protege to show themselves during an interview on ESPN Radio's His and Hers show (h/t Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post):

"

Fair? I mean, the key word right there is anonymous. I mean, if you're going to say something, say it, and let people know who's saying it. I mean, don't hide in the corner and talk about somebody else. Give them a chance to evaluate you. Apparently that person doesn't know Robert. We know Robert, we love Robert and we understand Robert.

"

Briles asked for criticism to be delivered in a direct, up-front manner, so here goes: Right now, Griffin barely even merits fourth-tier status as a starting NFL quarterback.

The ranking of the league's 32 starters compiled this month by MMQB writer Andy Benoit, which had Griffin 31st, is an accurate one. That's just the reality for a player who so often struggles with the core aspects of his position.

His flaws include a reluctance to release the ball quickly, not knowing when to live and fight another play, erratic (to say the least) accuracy and a seeming inability to read coverages. Whether you believe Griffin will become good or not, nobody can deny that all of these failings have been present in his game.

They are reality when the offensive line, so often blamed for his regression, is noticeably better without him, per Rich Tandler of Real Redskins:

"Last year, he dropped back to pass 247 times and was sacked 33 times (13.4 percent). Playing behind the same line, Kirk Cousins had 212 dropbacks and was sacked eight times (3.8 percent). All of Griffin's issues were not traceable to a shaky offensive line."

That endorses a sentiment ESPN's John Keim has stated is shared by Washington's coaches about the cause-and-effect relationship between Griffin and his O-line: "As I've said in the past, the coaches put perhaps half of the 58 sacks allowed last season on the protection." 

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Yet still, the excuses continue to come thick and fast for a quarterback actually surrounded by one of the most talented cores of playmakers in the NFL. Think of what any even competent passer could do if he got to target Pierre Garcon, DeSean Jackson, Jordan Reed and Niles Paul every week. Or if he also got to hand off to Alfred Morris.

But somehow, Washington's offense remains stuck in neutral, at best. If you're looking for a culprit, Griffin is the main one.

But even after you've wagged your finger at the guilty party, you have to peek through the looking glass. Because even Griffin's harshest critics, myself included, have to concede he has been undone by some factors beyond his control.

The first is his lengthy injury history. Being injury prone is a tag no player wants and few fans have patience for. Yet it's also a perhaps underrated factor in judging a player.

Griffin just hasn't been able to stay healthy. He's missed 12 games in three years and endured multiple surgeries on his legs. B/R analyst Chris Simms believes Griffin's ability to stay on the field will define Washington's season:

One way or another, Simms is right.

Critics will point to Griffin's unwillingness to give up on plays, as well as the inability to slide (a bizarre reality for a quality athlete), as the root cause of his injury woes. But there's also been some bad luck to it.

Having Haloti Ngata bang into your knee as a rookie is going to hurt. It's also the kind of traffic accident that can occur in any gridiron pile up. When you blow out your knee ligaments trying to recover a botched snap, the way Griffin did in the playoffs against the Seattle Seahawks, it's not your fault. It's just rotten luck.

In the same sense, not even the sacks his hesitance in the pocket cause can mask the fact Washington's offensive line has been poor for years. For every example of Griffin holding onto the ball for an age, you're likely to find one where he's been eyeball to eyeball with a Justin Tuck or Trent Cole before he's even planted his back foot.

There's also no getting around the fact Gruden seems less than comfortable building his offense around Griffin. Seifert made that clear, along with the help of some telling ESPN statistics:

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Gruden's ideal quarterback makes early decisions and, crucially, releases the ball quickly. The quarterback he groomed with the Cincinnati Bengals, Andy Dalton, has led the NFL with an average release time of 2.30 seconds during the past three seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Over the same period, Griffin had the ninth-slowest time at 2.67 seconds. So despite his still-nimble feet, Griffin has suffered the second-highest ratio of sacks to dropbacks in the NFL (8.0).

"

Those numbers serve as another indictment of Griffin's coverage-reading skills and less-than-efficient temperament. But they also offer Gruden a clear reminder that he can't run the same offense he had in Cincinnati—not with Griffin under center.

Evan Vucci/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press

So the onus is on him to put in a passing scheme that will get the best out of the quarterback he has. It's a heavy use of the pistol formation so Griffin can see the whole field, along with bunch formations to manipulate defenses and create easy throws against simplified coverage, in case you're wondering.

But will Gruden make those concessions for a quarterback he doesn't seem to trust? It hardly seems likely.

Yet playing for a coach who won't work around him isn't Griffin's fault. It speaks more to the at-best shortsighted, at-worst idiotic hiring practices that have been the vogue at Redskins Park since former coach Joe Gibbs left town the second time.

At this point, it's time for yet another reference to how Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid does things (you knew it was coming). If you want to know what the deal is with all of these references, just compare what Reid does with quarterbacks to how Washington has handled Griffin.

Ed Zurga/Associated Press

I've championed Reid so much because he's consistently built offenses around his quarterbacks. Has that translated to Super Bowl titles? Not yet. Does it even guarantee playoff success? Generally, but not always.

The merit is really more in the process. Reid has always shown a willingness to design schemes based on what the man under center can and can't do, regardless of who that man is.

That's why he's taken teams to the postseason with the likes of Donovan McNabb, Jeff Garcia, Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick and Alex Smith running his offense.

Without that same level of understanding from his coach, Griffin will sink before he swims in 2015. 

At least this year's Redskins team seems to understand that. But Gruden and new general manager Scot McCloughan's approach may be more about protecting Griffin rather than making him better.

That protection will come from a heavy dose of the running game, according to Tandler (h/t NBC Sports Radio's Rob Guerrera):

This echoes a theme Keim has previously made clear: "They know their quarterback situation—with Griffin or anyone else—demands they be a run-oriented offense."

Evan Vucci/Associated Press

While more running would certainly be welcome, sooner or later, any team needs to win a game on the strength and accuracy of its quarterback's arm. Hiding the problems with Griffin won't make them go away.

Both franchise and quarterback have reached a crossroads. Washington is still lacking a franchise quarterback and the rest of the NFL knows it.

But Griffin and the Redskins aren't helping one another. Owner Dan Snyder won't give up on him, while Griffin is determined to show his doubters he's the leader and elite signal-caller he believes he is.

Asking for so much on both sides is tearing this franchise apart. With his mobility reduced by injuries, along with so much to learn about his position, Griffin will likely never be a top-tier quarterback in the NFL.

If that's what Snyder and the Redskins hierarchy still believe they have, then they are merely creating the framework for more disappointment.